'CPI to Contest All 4 Seats as in Last LS Poll'

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In an apparent move to sabotage any move from LDF constituent partners to claim the Lok Sabha seats it had contested, CPI state secretary Pannian Ravindran said here on Thursday that his party would contest all the four seats it had contested during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.

Answering a query during a press meet convened to announce the party’s district campaign jathas scheduled to be held from February 15 to 22, he said the party was not for swapping its seats with any constituent partners as LDF had winnability in all the 20 seats.

Asked about why the party was not asking for a constituency where CPI had the highest number of party cadre in the country (Kollam constituency), he said LDF was allotting seats on the basis of the strength of any constituent in a particular seat. However, Pannian Ravindran said no discussion was held yet to decide on the party candidates.

‘’Our national executive meeting scheduled to be held on January 31 and February 1 and the state council and state executive to be held on February 3 and 4 will discuss the candidature for the Lok Sabha elections. I assure you we will decide on our candidates in the month of February itself’’ he said.

Pannian Ravindran said that party MPs, MLAs and other leaders will participate in the Raj Bhavan march to be held on February 24.

On February 25, marches will be taken out to select state and central government offices in all taluk centres in protest against the unprecedented price rise and hike in prices of cooking gas and petroleum products.

Referring to the revelations against Union Minister Shashi Tharoor made by his wife Sunanda Pushkar, the CPI leader said Tharoor should have been expelled from the cabinet. Moreover, it is not the first time that Tharoor has been caught in such controversies.

‘’The Congress leadership had not explained why he was removed from the cabinet earlier and why he was reinstated later,’’ he pointed out.